The HVAC Marketing Plan

Buying a lead is not the worst idea an HVAC contractor can think of. After all, leads drive your business. The problem is that in our experience when HVAC contractors do buy leads, the leads are expensive and the contractor is unhappy with the lead. But the issue with buying leads actually expands even further beyond the frequency of dissatisfaction associated with them. Buying leads on their own is a pitfall for you company and dissuades you from investing in the type of marketing resources that progressively increase your brand visibility and generate sales organically and in a manner that can be sustained over a longer period of time moving forward.

“I Hate My Lead Source”

If you are an heating & cooling contractor who has uttered these words you aren’t alone. In fact you are merely one of thousands of your contemporaries who share the same sentiment. Although leads as a concept are not foolish since the goal of every business is to make profit, the practice of lead buying is inferior to the theory. This is mostly due to poor quality lead distributors who offer “shared” leads rather than exclusives. But even with the best of the worst, leads can become a pitfall for HVAC companies who are climbing uphill vs local competitors.

“I Want More Leads”

Despite the well-documented disgust with lead sources many contractors continue to buy them. Why? Because at the end of the day they still want more leads. Because securing a lead brings money to their business it becomes a cyclical desire for the company. The profit is just enough to seem like it’s worth it for the heating & cooling business. Getting more leads can be a challenge especially with sources offering shared leads. Worse yet, it often distracts contractors from other forms of marketing that will actually end up producing more sales over the long-run.

Shifting Mentality: Invest in Yourself

When you purchase a lead from a platform it is them who benefits most. When the consumer purchases your services, the allegiance is to the lead platform and the lead platform is where they will likely return when they need another. This is true even of paying for clicks on Google Ads, Facebook, etc. The reality is that you are investing in these platforms (other people’s platforms) instead of your own. The goal should shift towards investing in your own brand and growing the allegiance of consumers towards your own likeness. This way, you will generate sustainable business for your company and not shell out hard-earned funds to conglomerates.

Custom Website

First thing you’ll need is a custom website with schema markup. A website can be the central hub of your HVAC company and create a foundation for subsequent web work. Most websites today are built with templates, either from a WordPress theme market or from DIY website builders like Wix, Weebly, and SquareSpace. While they have their advantages of course, they don’t have the type of long-term potential that custom sites do. They are limited in terms of organic optimization as well as long-term control of your brand which is what we want to avoid.

Google My Business

Nobody will take your company seriously without a Google My Business page. You might ask how this is different than a lead platform since you are investing in Google rather than yourself. First of all, you are not investing money. Google My Business is free to claim and match with your Google Maps listing. Second, GMB listings can be linked to your main website so that your own web property becomes associated with the Google listing as well as the Google Reviews and Google Maps placement that comes along with it. All of this is free of charge for companies.

Search Engine Optimization

The best leads actually come from organic clicks on Google. Ranking for terms like “ac repair” and similar phrases can drive searche...

Buying a lead is not the worst idea for an HVAC contractor. After all, leads drive your business. Unfortunately, in our experience, when HVAC contractors do buy leads, the leads are expensive, and the contractor is unhappy. But the issue with purchasing HVAC leads expands even further beyond the negativity surrounding them. Buying leads can be a […]

When HVAC contractors look for marketing services online they usually search Google. The companies that come up in those searches have clearly optimized their own websites which is why they are ranking on page one and why you clicked on them. But just because their own site is optimized doesn’t mean they will optimize yours (to the same degree) if and when you become a client. Independent researchers noted specific cases where client websites did not meet even close to the standard set by the company website. This dynamic is very misleading to prospective customers who are expecting the same type of optimization effort on their own site. Pitfalls of working with SEO companies are not new. Lip service is a fairly common occurrence for web geeks. Understanding how to weed out the bad ones can pay off in the end.

Aggregate Reviews

Achieving Maps placement is important but it is not possible without reviews. Google prioritizes HVAC businesses that have established a reputation through reviews. Generating reviews is not an easy task necessarily but it is a relatively simple one. As a client of HVAC Webmasters your website includes our Righteous Reviews widget which allows customers to leave a review directly on your website which is than distributed to Google, Facebook, or Yelp. Also, the widget populates existing reviews of your company from those same platforms and displays them for all visitors to witness. The best way to get someone to leave a review on your website is to ask in person.

Deep, Heavy Content

Websites that optimize typically have deep, heavy content. That means multiple in-depth pages explaining different aspects of their services. That means weekly or monthly blog posts that provide valuable and informative reading material on the subject matter. A one page website will never optimize to its potential. For Google to acknowledge a website as an authority on a topic, it must showcase its relevance over and over again. Good content is not a one time action, it must be written and published consistently including with relevant internal links to enhance user experience.

Maps Placement

For HVAC companies many clicks will come from Google Maps. The Local 3 Pack appears on search results for HVAC related queries and if you are properly optimized can generate a substantial number of leads. Since The 3 Pack is showcased above traditional organic results, customers are more likely to click them. It is estimated that close to 70% of searchers click organic results over PPC ads but Google Maps listings are included as part of “organic” results. The best part about being included on the Local Map Pack is that you’re likely to also be on regular organic results.

Organic Clicks

As a full digital marketing agency our team provides advertising services in addition to SEO. We help HVAC contractors with their Google and Facebook ad spend and attempt to maximize revenue from that technique. While ads can certainly be helpful, organic clicks still provide the greatest ROI which is why we believe so strongly in them at HVAC Webmasters. Because organic results are achieved through a series of optimization tasks they do not require the same kind of fixed payment that PPC advertising does. SEO is sustainable so organic clicks will continue to yield profit over time.

Is Your HVAC Website Optimized?

Sometimes contractors don’t know whether or not their site is optimized. They certainly are aware of the amount of leads they are generating but may not be able to identify what is working and what is not working on a website. That’s why Google Analytics and Google Search Console are very important too...

There’s many in the industry who claim to be SEO experts but the only way to find out for sure is to ask tough questions about their business. You will find that when an SEO company is trustworthy they won’t oversell their service. Instead they will try to educate you on how their service works and help you understand whether or not it is a good fit for your company. On today’s episode of The HVAC Marketing Podcast, owners Nolen and John explain the process of identifying a legitimate marketing company for SEO services.

Are You a Specialty SEO Company?

A good question to ask for HVAC contractors is whether or not the SEO company specializes in a specific niche. For example, HVAC Webmasters specializes in marketing for HVAC contractors. While a specialty doesn’t always equate to a high quality marketing company, it is certainly a point in their favor. Experience promoting similar businesses is a clear advantage over those who have only represented other kinds of industries. You might also ask if the specialize in a certain “type” of SEO which is normally a red flag.

Do You Provide Original Content?

A website without content cannot maximize its SEO. But some contractors mistakenly believe their site already has content. While there may be text on the pages, it is often copied from other sources and rendered null and void by Google. You can check if your page content is scraped by visiting Copyscape. You can have a lot of content and not have any rankings. After all, why would Google want to show the same content as another page that is more well established and more relevant? Also, ask them if they have writes on-staff.

Catching Them in a Lie

The best thing you can do as an HVAC contractor is catch an SEO expert in a lie. They might not be transparent about their billing process and use black box billing to forward your SEO payments towards pay per click marketing. While it might get you calls early, it will not sustain itself over time because the money you paid for SEO is a monthly fee. If you notice that your SEO suddenly stopped working, you’ve been worked. Ask them upfront how their billing process works and weather they use SEO money for other tasks.

Marketers will use every trick in the book to mislead wide-eyed contractors for financial gain. Here are some of the most common ones.

#1 The Shell Trick

The shell trick started when “real SEO” quit being done. This occurrence took place around 2014 when Google’s algorithm raised its demands for what it took to rank a webpage online for relevant keywords. Fast forward to 2019, and implementing quality SEO is more difficult than ever. As a result, marketers have offered packages that breakdown costs into different shells. They will say that SEO costs x amount, mapping costs x amount, PPC costs x amount, etc. There is no all-inclusive packages with the shell trick which is its inherent problem. Big marketing firms will shame customers who are unwilling to invest in each shell. When SEO is done right, it includes all aspects of it and doesn’t need to be broken down into a bunch of different categories in its pricing structure.

#2 The Glorified Hosting Fee

Marketing companies often present their services as a detailed procedure involving in-depth website management and optimization. The reality for many is that their payment is a glorified hosting fee. You receive a decent-looking template website that is rarely worked on and are then sent monthly reports generated by 3rd party tools like SEMRush, AHRefs, MOZ, or others. Many of these reports are confusing but do enough to appease the average HVAC contractor for the time being. Not because the HVAC contractor is gullible or unintelligent but because they are being mislead by professional manipulators. Worse yet, big marketing institutions will shame companies who question the results of their services.

#3 Blackbox Billing

If you pay $5,000 to invest in a PPC campaign, many marketers will hold on to $3,000 of it, claiming that it is going towards your other parts of the shell in the aforementioned shell trick. Since you pay the marketer directly, and not Google Ads, you are at their mercy. There is no transparency involved with these transactions but it does cause HVAC contractors to get screwed out of their hard earned money. If you ask why you aren’t performing well, many marketing companies will shame you into spending more. The worst part is that the $3K being redistributed does not actually go towards quality work (in most cases) so there is really no advantage whatsoever to working with these kinds of SEO firms in 2019.

HVAC Webmasters: A Transparent Alternative

At HVAC Webmasters, we do SEO the right way. Never once have we utilized any of the tactics listed above, nor have we shamed contractors into believing that their lack of spending is the reason why marketing services lack quality. As an all-inclusive SEO agency, we perform everything from custom website design to full search engine optimization, which is all included in our SEO package. We even do custom coding, schema markup, content writing and marketing, as well as regular site work. Having worked with HVAC companies for the better part of the decade, we have built a great rapport with the industry and understand how to best market those services.

Prior to the internet, HVAC companies would employ people to hand out flyers door to door. While this strategy might’ve been somewhat effective in 1969, you could not work an employee more than the maximum number of hours in a day because of federal and state level regulations. But what if HVAC companies could have a 24/7 employee who generated leads at all times of the day and night? They can by investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

That’s right, SEO serves as an effective employee for HVAC contractors who are looking to acquire customers in their local service area. Whether it is Google Maps or organic results, SEO can pay major dividends for companies in 2019. Best of all, SEO never turns off, making it a non-stop lead generator for heating and cooling companies.

Organic SEO consists of many elements. One of the most important for HVAC is local SEO. Since HVAC companies are usually local, targeting consumers within in a defined radius creates the most favorable ROI. But local SEO is not the only aspect of optimization. On-page, Off-Site, and Technical SEO also collectively influence a company’s search visibility. Obviously, the more well represented you are on Google SERPs the more valuable of an “employee” that SEO becomes. Think of it like a salesperson who converts at a high rate. You would pay them more than the person who only gets one lead per 1,000 consumers. The great thing about SEO, is that once you establish rankings, the lead generation process can become an ongoing asset.

Why Organic SEO Works 24/7

Consumers have never before in history had so much access to A) an internet connection and B) a device on which to access it. Most public places have WiFi connections, and most Americans have a mobile device of some kind on their person. Even at times when people are away from a WiFi connection, phone carriers allow for internet access through their servers. The bottom line is this, a considerable amount of consumers can now access the net 24/7. What this means is that a search for HVAC services can happen at literally any time, and with SEO, your search results will be there waiting for when it does happen. The higher the search ranking, the more times users will view and click on your search result, and ultimately enter the sales funnel.

Organic works 24/7 because of:

* Consumer Behavior

* Mobile Devices

* WiFi Connections

Is Organic SEO Cost Efficient?

A 24/7 employee would presumably by expensive, right? Wrong. Organic SEO is one of the most inexpensive employees you will ever have on the payroll. While some digital marketing campaigns require an ongoing investment like PPC Google Ads and Facebook Ads, SEO is far less of a financial burden. The best part is that once established, its ROI becomes astronomically higher than that of any kind of paid advertising. That is because its cost is so much lower. Keep in mind that like with any other kind of marketing investment, SEO is dependent on quality. Proper optimization will yield substantial ROI in typical cases, but poorly executed SEO can end up as money down the drain. Preventing inferior SEO companies from selling you their services is easier than you might think. There are multiple red flags to look for when evaluating a potential SEO company for your heating and cooling business. Here’s why good SEO is cost efficient:

* Low Cost

* Ongoing ROI

* Sustainable Growth

Planning The Right Organic SEO Strategy

Knowing that the quality of an SEO strategy can make or break its effectiveness, HVAC contractors should understand what it takes to plan a strategy that is projected to succeed.

A proper SEO strategy consists of keyword research, URL structuring, and high quality content writing. Other supplementary factors also play a role,

Marketing companies have mostly abandoned the fundamentals of SEO in favor of less effective but more salesworthy tactics. Find out the nuances of why these companies are leading clients down the path of most resistance and what can be done to steer clear. HVAC Webmasters has been marketing for contractors for the better part of the last decade and we’ve seen it all when it comes to search optimization.

Various digital marketing agencies abandoned SEO in favor of less effective but more sales-worthy techniques. For instance, charging an HVAC company for PPC or Facebook Ads allows marketers to pocket a percentage of the ad spend by withholding specific billing information. Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) is an easier sale for agencies because the results happen immediately, […]

Old School Networking is Dumb

Old-school networking is dumb. Not too many HVAC contractors want to hear the brutal truth, but old-school networking wastes time you could be perfecting your craft and allowing online marketing to generate leads. Everything from trade shows to meetups is a fake work ethic that converts at about 0%. Instead of wasting your time, you […]